I watched this live on Twitch TV and the event featured the first round of the HOH Twitch Television Championship. All the matches except for the tag match were first round matches, even the triple threat. Second round is March 24th back at the 2300 Arena.

Crazy Steve pinned Maxwell Jacob Friedman
MJF is great where ever he goes!

Kevin Kross defeated Little Guido

Dan Maff pinned Ace Romero
Decent match, glad to see Ace on the card and getting some big exposure.

Hardcore Rules: Tommy Dreamer & Billy Gunn with Bully Ray defeated NWA World Champion: Nick Aldis & Joey Mercury with Shane Douglas
They had some guy in a suit who said he was a federal commissioner and that HOH was under investigation so this wouldn't be a hardcore match to anger the crowd. Aldis and Mercury jumped Dreamer and Gunn and they laid out the ref. The suit then took of his shirt revealing he referee shirt and said he lied it would be hardcore. Eventually the Sandman came out and beat people up. Blue Meanie also made an appearance. Meh

Austin Aries pinned Matt Riddle
This was the best match of the night, they went to a time limit draw, then did five more minutes that went to a draw, then did five more minutes and when the ref turned his back Aries kicked Riddle in the dick and nailed the brainbuster for the pin. Really great match, great story it was awesome.

Triple Threat: Willie Mack defeated Matt Cross and Luchasaurus

Brian Cage defeated Sami Callihan
Another great match as they two guys really laid it into each other for a great main event to close out the show.

I watched this on the Twitch website on my tablet at work. The production quality and commentary was fantastic. I love the age we live in where wrestling around the work is so accessible to the fans live as it happens.

I watched this at work on my tablet at 430am when the live broadcast started. Again, what a world!

Michael Elgin vs. Katsuya Kitamura

Big ole hoss fight with the guys just laying into each other with stiff shots with high impacts suplexs and body slams. As a young lion Kitamura is in a seven match trial series. Elgin got the win with a buckle bomb followed by a sit out powerbomb. Great match!Jushin Thunder Liger, Kushida, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, & Tiger Mask IV vs. Suzuki Gun: Takashi Iizuka, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, Taichi & Taka Michinoku

Solid match with a lot of action in and outside of the ring. Suzuki Gun jumpstarted the match like they always do. Taichi continued trying to remove the mask of Jushin Thunder Liger. Finish came when Kushida submitted Taka with hover-board arm lock.

Satoshi Kojima was supposed to be in this match but and ACL injury took him out of it, Nakanishi took his place.

Takahashi started with Ishii laying in solid shots that Ishii no sold as Chase Owens kept encouraging Takahashi to hit him harder. Decent match I'm not a fan of Yano and don't care for his antics. Finish came when Ishii pinned Owens with the vertical door brainbuster

In storyline Chase Owens wants a five count after hitting the package piledriver. I wonder if this is a New Japan thing or if he'll be doing that in March when he comes to Limitless Wrestling in Maine.

Another decent match with fast paced action. Tama Tonga is so good, I can't imagine he won't be a stand out singles star at some point. He's been wrestling for ten years, eight in New Japan, and with his ability and charisma you can't hold him down. Finish came with Tama submitted Henare with the Dream Catcher also known as a Twister which is a sideways body bend with a leg trap and neck crank.

Yet another great match that was bell to bell action. Once the match settled in Juice Robinson took the heat Ricky Morton style for his team for a long time before making the hot tag to Kota Ibushi right after Cody tagged in. Crowd popped big as these two continue their feud, however, they were smart and only gave us a couple minutes before they both tagged out.

Great series of moves where the guys kept hitting moves on their own teammate. Finish came when it was Hangman and Finlay in the ring who hit the Rite of Passage for the pin.

At one point Marty has Ibushi on his shoulders and Cody hit a springboard dropkick on Ibushi who flipped over landing on his feet.Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Yoshi Hashi & IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion: Will Osprey

On his entrance Naito chased Don Callis off and then spat upon him. I'm sure this is to continue Naito vs. Jericho feud. Even though Callis was attacked by Jericho they are both Winnipeg natives.

Naito & Hiromu jumped the match before the bell going the the floor. After a few minutes Osprey and Naito finally start in the ring, but it's not long before it's Hiromu and Osprey in ring while Naito attacked Hashi outside the ring.

Referee didn't seem to have much control as guys would trade in and out of the ring with or without a tag. LIJ worked over Osprey's left knee most of the match. Finish came when Naito kicked Osprey in the dick, then he ate a kick from Hiromu and was rolled up by Naito.

I'm really looking forward to Osprey defending his championship against Hiromu next month in Osaka. Post match Hashi attacked Naito and the two fought to the back building their singles match in Osaka.IWGP Champion: Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, & Gedo vs. Sanada, Evil, & Bushi

Match opened with Okada and Sanada, surprised me as with their pending title match next month in Osaka I figured they'd hold off them having contact. Action stayed mostly in the ring but they did hit the floor a couple more times. We actually got a lot of Okada and Sanada giving us a nice preview of next month. Finish came when Okada submitted Bushi with a cobra clutch.

Post match Okada cut a promo on Sanada and then attacked him in the aisle bring him back to the ring. Okada hit a jumping tombstone piledriver and then he took some Okada dollars and shoved them in Sanada's mouth then locked in the cobra clutch. I thought Sanada was the heel in this.

Not a five star classic, but a wicked fun match. Typical match from the Elite where the match was essentially a tornado match. Surprisingly The Elite dominated the majority of the match. Finish came when The Elite hit the assisted Indytaker on Yoh.

This match was friggin tremendous! Suzuki was relentless in his attack on Tanahashi's knee from bell to bell. Even when he hit the Gotch Piledrive he wanted the submission and went back to the knee bar. Eventually red shoes stopped the match as Tanahashi showed true heart and wouldn't submit. We have a new Intercontinental Champion!

Seriously go spend the $9.22 and get New Japan World to watch not only this match but WrestleKingdom 12.

Fantastic hard hitting match with RedDragon working Akam's left leg with unique punishment and repeated knee bars. The weakened knee came into effect as the supercollider finish was hampered by it and cost AOP the match. O'Reilly pinned Akam with a rollup to retain the titles.

A couple other things I really liked in the match: O'Reilly using jujitsu to keep Akam on the ground when he had him in the triangle choke, O'Reilly taking that bump from the apron to the floor after being pinballed by AOP, Fish grabbing the tag rope before taking the tag from O'Reilly.

War Machine shown at ringside and they called them War Machine: Hanson and Rowe, nice!

Kassius Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream

In the pre-show Velveteen Dream guaranteed a 30 second or faster knock out. I wasn't a fan of the Velveteen Dream at first but he has grown on me. I loved that the fans were counting to 30 from the time the bell rang, and the pop and Velveteen Dream dropped him! Two blown spots in a row by Dream, the DDT and DVD I was a bit concerned by the bumps Ohno took on both. Finish came when Dream hit his purple rain elbow drop by jumping off the ring post covering, which was impressive.

Women's Champion: Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler

Match was ok, I'm not an Ember Moon fan, I enjoyed Baszler tearing her arm apart. I hated the medical staff coming out to check on Ember. I enjoyed the finishing sequence of the arm bar and Moon twisting and turning, Baszler pulling her away from the ropes and then moon getting that jackknife pin out of know where. Loved Baszler choking out Moon on the ramp after the match. I gotta give Moon credit she sold the hell out of that choke including coughing up all the spit.

They show Trevor "Ricochet" Mann in the audience, big pop for him.

Extreme Rules Match: Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole

I'm glad they didn't come to the ring with trash can full of weapons or have them outside the ring laying around. Cole's reaction after Black threw is kendo stick down was hilarious. I'm noticing some blood on Cole, his lower back and right upper leg, not sure how it happened. Looks like Cole cut his hand.

I've never seen someone thrown on a ladder like Black did Cole from that Electric Chair position. Great friggin match, the death valley driver on the two chairs back to back was sick! I've never seen that before. Fish and O'Reilly getting involved was not a surprise, I liked Sanity running in and stopping them, makes sense. The double knees through the table was great! Finish came when Cole yelled at Black that he was going to hit him with a chair and Black hit Black Mass and got the pin.

They showed EC 3 at ringside and the way he did it was awesome! Standing back to profile to the camera and slowly turning around. Big Pop!

Almas out first, I liked that he wore his old Lucha mask out. Great counters and reversals in this match. Gargano's bump on the floor missing the rolling dive was stiff, landed right infront oh his wife and mom too.

Match started slow and really built and built towards the finish. Fantastic false finishes that had the crowd on their feet. I don't know how I feel, I wanted Gargano to win and with Almas retaining, I don't know, it was a great friggin match that they both can be proud of. They killed it for over thirty minutes.

Solid eight man tag with Suzuki Gun getting jumped by the faces to start the match. Lots of action in and out of the ring with Taichi getting the pin on Umino after a thrust kick.

Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga

Ishii is a powerhouse his pitbull nickname fits him. Same crap from Yano, with the referee distracted he hit Leo Tonga in the dick and then rolled him up after Ishii clotheslined him for the win. Bullet Club: Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, & Chase Owens vs. Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, & Tomoyuki Oka

Another solid and dominating performance by Bullet Club. Finish came when Owens pinned Oka after a package piledriver.

Henare & Michael Elgin vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka

Henare replaced the injured Tanahashi, which is huge in storyline that he was too injured after losing to Suzuki last night. Suzuki and Iizuka dominated the match with Suzuki just beating Henare down severly. Finish came when Suzuki first applied the sleeper on Henare then hit the Gotch Piledriver and submitted him with the knee bar.

Post MatchSuzuki Gun was laying a beating on Henare when Makabe made the save chasing them all off. Look for Makabe to challenge Suzuki for his Intercontinental Championship soon.

Great ten man tag of guys who will wrestle in singles matches next month. We got to see previews off all of those matches. This match though was used to build Sanada as a credible threat to Okada and they did it. Sanada submitted Gedo with Skull End

Fantastic match that was just as if not better than WrestleKingdom. Matt injured his back early and sold the hell out of it through the match. He sell job was just tremendous. His back played into the finish when Yoh pinned Matt with a small package for R3K to take the championships.

It was good match, but it wasn't great. I'm a big fan of Jay White and this match and his victory of it for the United States Championship was supposed to elevate him to the next level and White just wasn't there. At no fault to Omega who worked his ass off for 30 minutes trying to put him there, but it just didn't work. Also the post match incidents really over shadowed the match itself.

Hangman Page came out and challenged White, Omega pushed Hangman aside and presented White with the title. White left as Cody and Marty came in, there was a lot of pushing and yelling and when Matt tried to calm Kenny he accidentally viciously threw him to the mat. The Young Bucks left to the back. Omega and Cody seemingly made up and as Omega was leaving Cody attacked him with Cross Rhoades. Hangman and Marty came back in the ring with Hangman holding Omega and Cody ready to level him with a chair while Marty was trying to talk him out of it. Ibushi made the save and chased them out of the ring.

Ibushi then extended a hand to Omega who refused it standing himself up on his own, after both men showed they were crying the embraced each other much to the enjoyment of the crowd and then someone set off the confetti canons, signaling the reunion of the Golden☆Lovers. Ibushi and Omega teamed under this name for five years, 2009 - 2015 in DDT Pro and NJPW wining Tag Team Championships in both promotions.

This was much better than their match this past Monday at the Raw 25th Anniversary. The Revival are the best tag team in WWE in my opinion right nowcan't wait for them to win tag team gold. Revival got the win working over Gallows knee and then chop blocking it for the roll up. Looking forward to their next match as this isn't over.

US Open Challenge: United States Champion: Bobby Roode vs. Mo Jo Rawley

I was disappointed with Mojo being the challenger this is a SmackDown level challenger not a PPV, even a PPV pre-show challenger. Roode for the win when Mojo botched a tornado Glorious DDT.

Best part of the Pre-Show was when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were doing the twitter Q & A, shitting on the fans stupid questions and completely ignoring, save when they insulted, Rosenberg.

Fantastic match which shouldn't surprise anyone considering who is in the match. They made this two on 1 match make sense with Owens nagging injury from SmackDown and quick pin of the non-legal Owens continues the idea that the referees keep screwing them. Well done. 2/3 Falls: SmackDown Tag Team Champions: The Usos: Jimmy & Jey vs. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin

Fantastic first fall, lost of false finishes, I mean just a really good tag team match and I was surprised the first fall took so long because of how WWE usually books these matches. Fist fall came when the Usos double superkicked Gable and then one of the Usos splashed him.

The start of the second fall with Benjamin and Gable laying waste to them and just heeling it up big time was great. Second fall came not to long after when the got a quick roll up on Benjamin. I never saw it coming and never would have predicted it. Well done.

Men's Royal Rumble Match

I'm not going into too great of detail but this was the best Royal Rumble match in years! I truly enjoyed Heath Slater being layed out by a half dozen guys as they came to the ring and when he was thrown in my Sheamus and then got Heath got the quick clothesline elimination of Sheamus was awesome. The surprise NXT entrants of Almas and Adam Cole was cool and they stayed into there for a good amount of time. Hurricane was decent, I even appreciate Rey Mysterio, not at first but the fact that he stayed right in there and he physically looked good. I wonder if he's back or if this is a one off.

I really enjoyed the match beginning to end and was elated that my pick Shinsuke Nakamura got the win. This is HUGE for a Japanese wrestler to win the Rumble. So excited they told us straight away that he wanted AJ Styles at WrestleMania, they NEED to be the main event. Raw Tag Team Champions: Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan vs. The Bar: Sheamus & Cesaro

This is is what I expected short but very hard hitting, you like when Strowman kneed Lesnar in the face a little too hard and Lesnar punched him in the side of the head exceptionally hard. Finish came when Strowman was on the floor outside the ring and Kane took an F5 getting pinned. Women's Royal Rumble Match

I was glad to see that the match that was give a lot of attention for it's historical purposes was last. While not as good as the men's match it was still very good. Some great nostalgia with ladies of the past including Molly Holly, Beth Phoenix, Lita, and Trish Stratus. One of the things that I was not impressed with was how much time some of them spent on the floor, like Sasha Banks, it was excessive. When Kairi Sane came out the place really popped and she brought some excitement including two big diving Insane Elbows.

Once again my pick Asuka won the match last eliminating Nikki Bella albeit with a really weak looking leg kick while both were on the apron.

Post match both Charlotte and Alexa Bliss came in the ring, but before anything else could happen "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey came out wearing Hot Rod's leather jacket, had to be, and the spelling on her name was in the same style as Hot Rod including the ringer shirt.

It was a really good PPV, beat Rumble show in years.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

It’s always nice when you stumble across something that you weren’t expecting. That’s exactly what happened when I found Marking Out on Amazon Prime a few months ago. Marking Out follows four friends who run a wrestling podcast and their quest to understand why they love wrestling after all these years. I love self-discovery type documentaries, and I’ll be honest, it’s a question I’ve asked myself before, so I knew this was something I couldn’t miss out on.

Within the first couple of minutes, I noticed something out of the ordinary; this is a comedic documentary and is very tongue-in-cheek. The good news is, quite a bit of it works, the bad news is the rest of it doesn’t. At times you feel like the documentary is made just for the people who are making it and not an audience, which is not a very good filmmaking decision.

In an attempt to understand their love for wrestling, the four friends attend quite a few different independent wrestling events, autograph signings, and conventions. They interact with the wrestlers on in a variety of different ways and the results are mainly positive. There is one situation with Greg Valentine that is not so positive, but they fail to bring up one of the main concerns of celebrities signing merchandise; they assume you are going to sell it on eBay and profit off of their signature.

My favorite part of the movie was when they visited a couple whose entire house is filled with wrestling memorabilia. I always love a look at obsessive fans and this is no different. I even ran across the guy on Instagram and love seeing his wrestling collection pop up on there from time-to-time.

The film does a great job of including you as part of this goofball group of guys exploring their passion (and renewing it at times.) They attend some "unique" wrestling organizations such as Chikara and Old Time Wrestling, which re-creates 1920’s wrestling with a slapstick vibe. Before watching this film, I would have dismissed going to a show at either organization, but now I would actually look forward to it. The movie helped me realize that there is room enough for all sorts of different wrestling organizations, for all the different types of fans.

As a wrestling fan, I can maybe recommend this as a watch to other wrestling fans. For non-wrestling fans, this movie would be a total bore that wouldn’t help the image of wrestling fans the least. This was a one-time watch for me, and I actually turned it off halfway through and finished up a few days later. I think the humor did more harm than good, because it was difficult to take serious their fandom and any revelations they made because of how tongue-in-cheek everything was.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

On Friday night January the 19th Limitless Wrestling brought their brand of professional wrestling to the Westbrook Armory with "The World Is Ours" and they did not disappoint! Alex made the drive with me and we met Mikey, Roy, Derek, Bradford, Phil, and many many more compatriots taking in eleven matches, ten on the main card and one YouTube pre-show contest.

Pre-Show

Kalvin Strange & Xavier Bell defeated Mark Sterling & Jaxon Stone

Glad to see Bell back on the card, it was odd not having him on the show in November. My first time seeing Jaxon Stone and I hope he comes back I'd like to see more of him. To me this match highlighted Kalvin Strange a native Mainer making his Limitless debut. He trained with Lance Storm and I've seen him on a few IWE shows in hte past. This was his best outing and I was surprised to see him get the submission victor on Stone for his team. Sterling took a couple nasty bumps on his neck I hope he's okay.

Main ShowDarby Allen pinned Jeff Cobb

Second show in a row for Allen, Cobb's first in quite a while. Cobb is a big powerhouse and Allen is so fast flying around the ring and yet their styles meshed tremendously. Allen got the surprise, dare I say upset win with a unique pinning combination. He stepped through like he was going to go for a sharpshooter but them fell forward tying up Cobb's legs and using his own body weight against him. Three count came out of nowhere for a big pop and shocking finish.

Triple Threat Match: Martin Stone defeated David Starr and Fred Yehi

This was Stone's and Yehi's debuts with the returning Starr rounding out this Triple Threat Match. In his 15th year Stone might be better known from NXT and the WWE UK Tournament as Danny Burch. All three of these guys are fantastic mat based wrestlers that have some high flying in there repertoire.

This is the first time I have ever seen and three way Greco-Roman knuckle lock and it was tremendous. It was unique seeing three guys applying and reverse mat based holds and submissions with such ease. Stone submitted Yehi and per the stipulation of the match he gets to chose his opponent on March 30th. I'm hoping Zack Sabre Jr, after their match at Beyond this is one I want to see in person.

Limitless keeps bringing new female talent and I hope it continues. This match was very entertaining and gave us some great comedy and great action. My first time seeing Allie Kat and Stadtlander and I hope it's not the last.

It really seemed to me like the Posse was holding back in this match but the ladies sure as hell weren't. Both Allie Kat and Stadtlander connected with some sick kicks including Stadtlander's scissor kick. Allie Kat got the pin on Danger Kid after a sick looking piledriver.

In March Limitless should bring back Allie Kat & Stadtlander to team up against Willow Nightingale & Skylar.

In Ring: Joey Eastman came out offering his services to the Posse and if they are not interested as a team then maybe just one of them would be. After much deliberation Danger Kid accepted Eastman's offer and left the ring with him leaving Aggro and Alexander in disbelief.

I'm not a Dick Justice fan, I am a Troy Nelson fan. Brett Domino is an asshole and I love it. His facial expressions and over the top behavior is excellent, I look forward to seeing more.Maxwell Jacob Friedman submitted Matt Cross

Another impressive showing by MJF who is my favorite heel on the independents. For me I wasn't very impressed with Matt Cross vs. Petey Williams last November in Portland. Tonight I got to see the Matt Cross that I was expecting last time. MJF got the surprise submission victory after Cross missed a 450 splash.

In Ring: Stokely Hathaway came out inviting MJF to join the Dream Team. MJF seemingly accepted but then Darby Allen came out and attempted a dive from the top rope onto MJF who pushed Hathaway into the oncoming Allen saving himself. Not sure if Hathaway rescinded his offer or not.

Tessa Blanchard pinned Deonna Purrazzo

A truly fantastic match! We got a little bit of everything, mat wrestling, submissions, high flying, and I finally got to see Tessa win a match in person! Talking with her before the show she said she was done with Stardom for now, she felt she had gone as far as they were going to push her. She'd love to go back to Japan but she was plenty busy at the moment. I hope she finds time to comeback to Limitless and this time not take a year to do so.

"Dirty Daddy" Chris Dickinson pinned Eddie Kingston

I was not disappointed with this match, but it was not the match I was expecting. The promo that Dickinson cut in November was so scathing that I figured these guys would jump start the bell and just start throwing hands. Instead it was a feeling out process that eventually lead to some stiff back and forth blows. Eventually Dickinson landed the pazuzu bomb for the three count.

A good match but the big story coming out of this was near the end of the match the bottom rope broke. They finish came when the Thick Boys nailed their finish on Casanova for the double pin. I will continue to point out that this is an illegal pin and the referee should not count the fall.

This was my favorite match of the night! We got some fantastic tag team wrestling from two teams and not guys thrown together. Limitless had brought Henry and Drake in before but this was the first time as a tag team.

Even with the bottom rope missing these two teams delivered. Sincerely you need to watch this match when you have the chance. Limitless Wrestling needs more of the Work Horsemen.

The match that was billed to discover the Ace of Limitless Wrestling. This match was exactly what you would expect from these four. It quickly spilled to the floor with all four working their way to the back of the venue where Dunn jumped off the top of the lockers onto the other three.

The four then battled back towards the ring past the merchandise tables where among all the chaos Jeff Cobb calmly sat eating his dinner unfazed by everything going on around him. It was hilarious. Greene eventually made his may back to the ring throwing eight steel chairs in a pile in the center. His intention was to splash a prone JT Dunn from the top rope, however Dunn superplexed them both onto the debris it was pretty sick!

The finish came when everyone hit there finishers and Greene rolled up Dunn for the three count with a handful of trunks to win the match officially becoming the Ace of Limitless Wrestling. However this was over shadowed by what came next.

In Ring: Teddy Hart made his surprise return to the pop of the night. He cut a promo on Briggs, Romero, & Dunn challenging them to a six man tag team match on March 30th with his partners AR Fox and Sami Callihan!

There was some changes to the show tonight that I really liked a lot. The doors opened on time, the pre-show and main show started as advertised. The quickly started the next match after the previous one finished. Intermission did not run excessively long and in the end the show finished up at just about 11pm.

I applaud the final two matches where the wrestlers didn't seem to let the fact there was no bottom rope stop them from doing their best in the ring. The only thing missing from the show was the staple six way scramble match.

Limitless returns March 30th and when tickets go on sale February 5th I can't throw my money at them fast enough! Already advertised:

Danger Kid with Joey Eastman will face an opponent to be determined by Mr. Eastman

also appearing Joey Janela, Brian Cage, and Chase Owens of the Bullet Club plus more

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network.

Contributors

Michael J. Labbe

Husband, father of three, and lover of all things professional wrestling Michael is the founder of The Wrestling Insomniac and posts unique articles about wrestling, live event reports, and regular columns The Last Match and Signed Trading Cards.

superstarreview@gmail.com

Brandon Myers

Brandon, a wrestling fan of over thirty years, enjoys all wrestling but spends most of his time watching classic Memphis and WCW matches. Brandon contributes live event reports, documentary/DVD reviews, and other assorted wrestling posts.

LuchaKoopa@gmail.com

Roy Kenny

Roy 's column Roy's Reviews focuses on reports from events he has attended and wrestling DVD's.